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Giveaway: RTE DVD goodie bags

State has some quality christmas swag to give away courtesy of RTE this week. We have two goodie bags up for grabs each with ten DVDs included. Relive your youth with Zig and Zag, marvel at how Gaybo presented everything ever, enjoy some innuendo with Podge and Rodge, learn Irish with Des Bishop and loads more. The full list is:

Naked Camera Boxset
Mike Murphy Vol 2
Langerland TV
In The Blood
The Best Of Zig & Zag
Apres Match 2008
Gaybo Laughs Back
Killinaskully Series 5
Podge & Rodge 3
Des Bishop In The Name Of The Fada

All you have to do is tell us your favourite RTE programme in the last year and why. Answers in the comments. Competition closed on the 12th of December.

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Fair City. I know people love to knock it but they have really good story lines & some really good actors (the dude that plays Leo being a major exception here obviously!) Really disappointed with the change of theme music though!
Viva la Carrickstown Crew. Feck the haters.

Niamhy

The Clinic.

I just love this show. It is without a doubt the best bit of homegrown drama we have! RAW was a close second but The Clinic has been about a few years and still going strong…

The Go To

One word: Seoige

Grainne and Sile Seoige light up your daytime screens with a fascinating mix of real life stories, celebrity chat, musical acts and topical reports. Dealing with local stories to global debates, Seoige reflects the real issues affecting the nation.

Actually to be honest it’s good material to pass a few minutes in the afternoon when the TV is muted.

They’re aren’t many shows worth watching on RTE but i try to catch the panel whenever i can. Good to see irish comedians before we lose to them to the BBC or likewise across the sea.

mistress meeyee

I saw a video of my friends with The Clinic on it and I loved it!!!

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yer one, bernie… ‘workin women’ alls the locals have been spotted in that show, as she saunters ’round ‘in character’… fair represention of all the stereotypes surrounding irish women in the 21st century too…

thats about it, oh, the six one news! can that be classed as an rte programme?! portrays the realism that catherine lynchs workin women strives for…

Tracy

Des Bishop –

Leim Ard!!! Leim Ard!!!

Come on – it was the best show for a long time which showed a regional aspect of the Irish culture that didn’t blow it up into something it wasn’t. He had the craic, laughed at the funny Irish mannerisms and dodgy dancing but overall put out a really positive attitude towards the language. He made it fun. He gave it life and it really made me think about how badly we have dragged the language, kicking and screaming, through the Irish education system to date. Take some of the fun and craic that was in this show and give it to the poor souls who are staring blankly at a book of boring stories that are incredibly out of date in school year in, year out.

Go Des. Go RTE for supporting it and giving the Irish language a boost without being corny.

RAW!
Has to be the best thing of the year. The actors actually could act! The Story was good. It was a great production from RTE and fair play to them. Please please please keep showing CHARLENE McKENNA (jojo) on rte. Dunno if its the accent or the looks but she packs a great punch,
Cheers,
Indielimerick

MikeT

Bertie – A great insight into the enigma that was/is Bertie. Loved the snippets of everyday life from times past thrown in. Well edited and non-judgmental. Classic use of Goodbye Lenin soundtrack “Summer 1978”, that RTE have now adopted for everything. Great view overall.

Torn between fact and fiction my two top choices would be â€˜Reeling In The Years,â€™ which does a simple job well and â€˜Pure Muleâ€™ which is one of the rare examples of our national broadcaster excelling at what is a difficult task; believable fiction that viewers can relate to.
I would have to pick the latter as my top choice, however. â€˜Pure Muleâ€™ didnâ€™t have any so-called watercooler moments that had everyone talking the next day – stylistically it was a million miles away from the hip production of inferior dramas like the all style, little substance â€˜Rawâ€™ and the god-awful â€˜Big Bow Wowâ€™.

But Mule took the simple concept of following a weekend in the lives of 6 people in a small Irish town and ground out convincing, sympathetic characters. While these characters interacted, the viewersâ€™ perceptions of each one was often twisted as the series progressed and insights were given as to what motivates each one of them.
It was brilliant, gripping telly and rewarded the patient followers and newcomers alike. It had great performances from the late Tom Murphy, Gary Lydon and Charlene McKenna and a fantastic script.

Itâ€™s shows like Pure Mule that make watching the likes of â€˜Colm and Jim Jimâ€™s Home Runâ€™ so damn frustrating. Because with Mule RTE showed it can produce telly that can be held up with the very best.

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kudos to joe!

forgot about pure mule, not much of a telly watcher myself… reeling in the years is great, i thought the bertie thing was a *whisper* tv3 production… in my ignorance… the only thing i could remember was catherine lynchs workin women, for shame! gotta get back to reviewing the rte guide for some top irish tv… actually i’ll take a rain check…

I have to say I’m enjoying the Nollaig No. 1 show on TG4 as a nice alternative to x-factor. There have been some great performers and it comes across very well on a small budget. It’s a nice reminder that Ireland still has some great undiscovered talent out there!

James

Katerine Lynchs ‘Wonderwomen’. Thought a lot of this was awful funny, especially the Leitrim “Lady”. I’ve had that accent stuck in my head the last month or two. Good to see RTÃ‰ taking a risk with shows like this.

Cathal Mc Veigh

Living with Lucy:

After making her fame by hosting the podge and rodge show, while getting abuse from the two boys, she really came into her own with her own star studded show ‘living with lucy’.

giving a bright insight into the inner lives of Irish A list celebrities such as twink… i mean adele king as she likes to be know, and as far streching to the wild antics of Senetor David Norris. which was just emotional.

I love living with Lucy…

ciaran

Has to be the Late Late Show.
It had everything you never expected to ever see:

Ripping up of Prizes
Interviews with Satanic Sluts
Twink in her skivvies
The host laughing his head off at a Josef Fritzl joke
Risteard Cooper impersonating Pat Kenny in front of Pat Kenny
Jerry Seinfeld (Or Seinfield) being completely stuck for words
And many jokes from guests about Pat’s Land woes.

Sure he’s paid a lot, but it’s almost worth it for the moments of unintentional comedy cringeness.

Fair City, without a shadow of a doubt. Ok, it gets its fair share of criticism, but it’s just so damn entertaining, and vastly superior to any of the grimly bland dross that comes out of the UK. Take that Terence guy, for instance (the Bond-esque villain who killed Lana and then blackmailed Leo). His fatal cliff-top struggle with Leo must go down as being the greatest soap death ever (Is he really dead though? Was the body ever found? I hope not). Better even than Miserable Mike frying himself in the Bistro.

And what about Rita? The actress who played her appears to have been replaced by a ‘bell’ sound effect. They could so easily have resorted to the laziest plot-device ever and just shipped her off to Australia or something, but oh no… Let’s just make her bedridden, out of sight, with occasional references to changing her nappy.

Soap does not get better than that.

Gerry

It is between The Tubridy Show and Podge and Rodge. Both are very entertaining with interesting guests, but I feel the batchelor boys from Ballydung Manor just shade it because they are prepared to ask the hard question. So, Podge and Rodge, by a whisker.

Laura

Raw! Raw! Raw! Not just a great Irish drama – a great drama full stop.

i’d imagine it’s a good show to be on the writers’ team for, and the fun of the boardroom translates into the show itself. i wouldn’t be surprised if all they do is throw names and words into a hat and come up with jokes that way. where… is… bono… the edge’s hat. this is satire unrivalled even by the likes of jon stewart.

it’s surprisingly hard to come up with a cohesive and entertaining reason.. just take it from me that it’s a great show.

Desperate Housewives ( I know not an Irish show but still on RTE) I’ve been into since it started, I think the plots are really engaging in a larger than life way. I also really loved Raw, total opposite of DH I know but equally good I loved the unrequited love story in it. I also really like the Panel. The rest of it I could leave.

Claire Griffin

katherine lynchs monderwoman is the funniest show ive seen on RTE for awhile. Its just brilliant and i think shes fantastic playing so many different characters. GO ON LIZ HURLEY. very funny ope theres a second series coming !!!!!!

Claire Griffin

katherine lynchs monderwoman is the funniest show ive seen on RTE for awhile. Its just brilliant and i think shes fantastic playing so many different characters. GO ON LIZ HURLEY.and singer bernie walsh! very funny hope theres a second series coming !!!!!!

Vicki Crowley

Desperate Housewives its just amazing. they have brillant plot lines that lead you guessing at whats gona happen next week. I have been watching from the staert i have all the series there amazing.

i also love Des Bishop what a legend hes so funny. He is brillant to go off and learn Irish and then to have a show in Irish. He is one of the best comedians ever.

alex donnelly

killinaskully is amazingly funny, Pat Shortt is hilarious and the material is fantastic, by far the best irish comedy for a good while!!!